Thursday, March 17, 2011

"I'll bet they think this tsunami's about them..."

One would think the media would be filled with stories like this, about Japanese nuclear technicians who are essentially committing suicide by manning the crippled nuclear reactors:

Dead men walking.

They're known as the "Fukushima 50," and they're Japan's only hope of avoiding a Chernobyl-like catastrophe.

The men, unidentified technicians and emergency workers, are desperately battling to save potentially millions of their countrymen -- knowing that even if they succeed, they'll likely die from lethal doses of radiation.

Chernobyl workers who stayed at their stations when the Ukrainian reactor exploded in 1986 died within three months of exposure.

Although the workers are dressed head-to-foot in protective body suits, the gear provides little protection against the radiation, which is at four times the level that causes cancer.

"I don't know any other way to say it, but this is like suicide fighters in a war," said Keiichi Nakagawa, a professor at the Tokyo University Department of Radiology.

But that's not a story we've heard much of. Instead, we've gotten a lot of the media reporting on....the media:

On “Today” this morning, NBC News anchor Lester Holt revealed that he and his crew tested positive for small traces of radiation after returning to his hotel from spending time in the field.

Luckily, as Holt explains, the amount of radiation he was exposed to was very small. His shoes, however, will not be coming back to the U.S. after his trip ends.

Poor baby, like getting dosed by an X-Ray machine. He'll still be alive in six months, while the men who he should be reporting on will almost certainly be dead.

But like the recent revolution in Egypt, the story becomes their "heroic" part in an historical event(" some one threw a bottle in my general direction!") rather than reporting the salient facts to an American public who is getting less information than ever from their confused and weak central government.

And speaking of which - if you want to know why our government has got their heads up their asses as far as current events go, this shocking exchangebetween ABC Jake Tapper and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney regarding unfolding events in Japan should shed some light on the Obama administration's sheer and utter incompetence:

JAKE TAPPER, ABC NEWS: "What is going on over there right now? We have not heard the latest information from the NRC or the Japanese government and apparently there has been something that has happened in the last few hours."

CARNEY, WH Press Secretary: "Well, it is clearly a crisis. There is clearly --"TAPPER: "-- what is specifically going on?"

CARNEY:"Again, I am standing here at the White House, I think you have reporters in Japan, you have reporters including ones here that could get the technical detailed information on what we know from the NRC, from the Department of Energy --"

"It's up to the media, not the government?" Tapper asked in response to Carney dismissing his question.

"No, no I just referred to government agencies that can provide technical information..." Carney responded.

As the world rapidly unravels before him, Obama appears to be getting his guidance from the media, who feel that the true story is really their adventures overseas, not the dead, dying, destroyed, or dethroned.

The deserve each other, of course. We - and a lot of heroes - deserve better...